Jonathan Cohen's photos with the keyword: S.W. Stark Street

The Crystal Hotel (formerly Hotel Alma) is a hotel located in downtown Portland, Oregon. The four-story, wedge-shaped building opened in 1911 as the Hotel Alma on the site of a former logging ranch. At that time, the building housed a hotel above an auto parts business. World War II changed that: the rationing of metals, rubber and parts caused the auto shop to close, ushering in an era of nightclubs and shady dealings within them. The first was Club Mecca, financed and operated by Al Winter, whom the FBI dubbed, "the vice overlord of Portland" because of his control of gambling and most of the rackets in the area. When a reform-minded administration took power in the late 1940s,Winter headed down to Las Vegas to continue his empire, opening the Sahara Casino, then the Lucky Strike and the Mint, working with notorious mobsters such as Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky. After Winter went off to Vegas, the Club Mecca space was taken over by Nate Zusman, who renamed it the Desert Room. Nicknamed "Zeus," Zusman enhanced the gambling operations with a call girl service. The madame housed the ladies across the street; Zusman would "order them up" for his clients at the club. By 1978, the building housed a gay bathhouse, and a gay bar, later known as the Silverado. The property is now operated by the McMenamins Company which operates 53 hotel and pub properties in Oregon and Washington. After an extensive renovation and restoration, McMenamins opened the hotel on May 3, 2011. At street level, the open-air Zeus Café offers upscale café food and an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Crystal Hotel (formerly Hotel Alma) is a hotel located in downtown Portland, Oregon. The four-story, wedge-shaped building opened in 1911 as the Hotel Alma on the site of a former logging ranch. At that time, the building housed a hotel above an auto parts business. World War II changed that: the rationing of metals, rubber and parts caused the auto shop to close, ushering in an era of nightclubs and shady dealings within them. The first was Club Mecca, financed and operated by Al Winter, whom the FBI dubbed, "the vice overlord of Portland" because of his control of gambling and most of the rackets in the area. When a reform-minded administration took power in the late 1940s,Winter headed down to Las Vegas to continue his empire, opening the Sahara Casino, then the Lucky Strike and the Mint, working with notorious mobsters such as Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky. After Winter went off to Vegas, the Club Mecca space was taken over by Nate Zusman, who renamed it the Desert Room. Nicknamed "Zeus," Zusman enhanced the gambling operations with a call girl service. The madame housed the ladies across the street; Zusman would "order them up" for his clients at the club. By 1978, the building housed a gay bathhouse, and a gay bar, later known as the Silverado. The property is now operated by the McMenamins Company which operates 53 hotel and pub properties in Oregon and Washington. After an extensive renovation and restoration, McMenamins opened the hotel on May 3, 2011. At street level, the open-air Zeus Café offers upscale café food and an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Bishop’s House is a historic building in downtown, Portland, Oregon. It is in the city’s Yamhill Historic District. When the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese was moved to Portland from Oregon City, Archbishop William Hickley Gross constructed the Bishop’s House as his official residence. Originally, the building contained a church library, the Archbishop’s living quarters, and an insurance agent’s office. Despite the presence of a cathedral next door, the immediate area was in decline, and Gross moved out after only a year. For a time the Bishop’s House hosted a Chinese Tong society, rumored to be the source of phone taps in the nearby former Police Bureau Headquarters Building. Between 1911 and 1915, an architectural workshop led by A. E. Doyle and Morris H. Whitehouse met in the building. A major renovation took place in 1965, and Bishop’s House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The building today houses offices and a Lebanese restaurant. In the background you can catch a glimpse of the US Bancorp Tower.